The story of Thanksgiving. (And those reportedly communistic Pilgrims.) Thanksgiving is one of the few holidays I celebrate. So many holidays just feel like manipulation (You vill honor veterans! You must love your father. You’re going to consider this the start of the new year, even if the day doesn’t have the slightest astronomical significance.) You could say that about Thanksgiving, too. (You should be grateful, damnit, even if life is in the proverbial handbasket!) But as a born-and-made pessimist, I welcome the reminder to uplift my thoughts. I fix the big dinner every year and share it with my…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
Thirty-nine percent of the polled U.S. public appear to be terribly misinformed. Don’t know whether this is true. But would anybody really be surprised if it were? The radiation may not be the only health hazard. Heh. So much for trust, but verify. Maybe they shoulda seen the signs. Want a free gun? Pretty cool one, too. All the systemic corruption of the U.S. financial system … all the horrendous harm bankers and regulators and the fed conspired to do to us ordinary working folks and our country. And who does the fedgov decide to go after??? OMG. Insider trading.…
Snowed yesterday. And again today. Between snows, it veered around between rain, freezing rain, sleet and whatnot. You folks in Minnesota, Colorado, or even Oklahoma might wonder why that’s news in late November. But this is in the coastal lowlands of the dreary-but-ever-moderate NorthWET. Snow here usually comes in December or later, if at all. And though it may fall heavily at 8:00 a.m., it’s melted by noon. This snow looks set to stay. The forecasters all said we’re headed into a wet, cold winter thanks to a La Nina pattern. Global warming, where are you when we need you?…
I’ve been thinking this week about boundaries. Personal boundaries — how we set them (or fail to) and how, even when we think we’ve established our boundaries firmly, other people try to override them. I got onto this topic while writing my current S.W.A.T. magazine article. (Shameless plug: It’s called “Charles Manson, Me, and the TSA,” and if that title intrigues you, you’ve got time to subscribe to the ‘zine, because the piece is scheduled appear in March (in the April 2011 issue). If you’ll remind me, I’ll post the article here once it’s appeared in S.W.A.T..) Manson bent —…
Millions long for immortality who don’t know what to do with themselves on a rainy Sunday afternoon. — Susan Ertz It’s one of those days that isn’t exactly rainy, but not exactly not rainy, either. Mists swirl between here and the hills. The pavement gleams. A raincoat might be a good idea during a dog walk. Or maybe not. (No unbrella, of course. People in the NorthWET don’t do umbrellas. We may own them, but when you see somebody actually using one, you know they’re foreigners.) After a good, but semi-hectic week, I promised myself a sabbath day. I’m just…
NOTE: At the bottom of this article are links to lots more intellectual ammo against the porno-scanners and the TSA’s new “enhanced” pat-downs — a technique designed (as far as I can tell) to persuade fliers that they’d find life easier if they submitted to radiation and porn, rather than opting out. Use that info for your own letter writing or send your less-aware friends here for an eye-opener. —– Last week, I picked up on Arthur M. M. Krolman’s idea and suggested a “Letter to Disney” campaign against the TSA’s porno-scanners. The idea was (and is) threefold: Write a…
Forty-three percent of likely voters say neither party represents them. That’s progress. Now, if they’ll only realize that no third-party will ever represent them, either … Hoplophobia. It’s curable. We knew that. Former supermodel Paulina Porizkova has some lovely and candid things to say about aging. I get the feeling you could have a great conversation with this woman. Glass of wine, get a little giddy, let hair down. Lots to say. Via a link dropped by Brian into a recent comments section: Hope Bourne. Amazing woman. Sad ending, but definitely an amazing woman. Funny and sad how our strengths…
Via Wendy McElroy, quoting John Pugsley: 15 non-political strategies for increasing freedom. While there’s nothing new here for long-time freedomistas, there are some great reminders. And Pugsley puts ’em strongly.
A lady named Cozy Baker died this week. “Cozy Who?” you might ask. I doubt that most folks here would ever have heard of her. But to a small universe of artists and appreciators, she was a grande dame, a patron, a saint, a goddess — and even better, a bright, creative, and generous spirit. Cozy Baker founded the Brewster Kaleidoscope Society and is the person most responsible for the modern revival of the kaleidoscope as an artform. She wrote a number of books (including the world’s first-ever book on kaleidoscopes) and encouraged both artists and collectors. Today, ‘scopes are…